2018-05-11 Fair Weather Flying
The setup in the Danger Room is simple. Or at least, it's going to start that way. Up in the air are several floating rings of various sizes, hovering in three dimensions. Jean is speaking to Linda telepathically Linda says, "Sounds easy enough so far, but I assume there is a catch." Precision flying she is pretty good at. Well, at least as long as she is not concentrating on something else...like throwing something as hard as she can while avoiding hitting a cursed diamond... Jean Grey grins, "Of course, nothing is ever simple. But it wouldn't be a challenge if I told you what it was going to be going. So, whenever you're ready, I'll go ahead and start." Linda asks, "How do I know which one I am to pass through next? I assume there is a set order." If the goal is to figure out a pattern that only passes through each one once or something...that will hopefully be explained. Jean Grey smiles, "You'll have to figure that out as you go through. And if you go through them out of order, we're going to have to dock you points. So ready to start?" Linda frowns slightly, going in order without a clue to what that order is intended to be seems tough. Logically the order has to be deducible, and should depend on some factor she can detect...though probably not until after the challenge is started. In order of size would be one choice, but may be too obvious. Linda is not a genius or even a detective, hopefully she is up for it. She says, "Ready." She concentrates on looking for the clue... And then it starts. The first ring is simple - just a ring that's glowing to indicate that it's 'active'. But ti's rapidly compressing down on itself to shrink, and if too long is waited it will be impossible to go through. Then the one after it is chiming at barely audible pitch. The glowing ring is simple enough, the trick is to be fast enough and Linda has plenty of speed, but she has to slow down after she passed to hear the second, because she can not hear it if she is supersonic and it is dopplar shifted enough to be confusing if she is going too fast. Fortunately her reflexes are up to rapidly identifying the sound producing ring, so the pause is not severe... Jean Grey is watching as Linda goes through the loops - the next phase of rings are -literally- phasing - shifting in and out of existence with light flickers as they fade. Linda has to go through them all,can't miss any, and can't go out of order, so she has to time her transit carefully.. Diana shows up at the front door of the mansion. She had been told of the return of the one who had been known as Supergirl, now calling herself Proxima. She raps lightly on the door, which means the knocking is audible without her knocking it off its hinges. She does not enter uninvited. That would be rude of her. Linda's reflexes are a hundred times those of a normal person, timing the phasing rings so she goes through each of them in order while they are there is not an easy challenge...sometimes you have to come at a shift set from the wrong side so as not to be caught by a ring phasing in that would put you out of order. It requires concentration...she is pretty sure that one of the future challenges is going to involve darkness. Turning out the lights so she has to fly through a set of rings she can not see...given her senses are not enhanced she will have to memorize the positions as she flies around the other ones. Up above, the door to the Mansion is opened as if of it's own volition, and Diana hears a voice ~Downstairs, you're just in time.~ Presuming Diana does not brush it off, Jean would give her a quick 'guide' down to the Danger Room. Jean's sharing with Diana the results that Proxima has been doing so far. As Linda goes to pause to evaluate, and then goes through quickly but carefully, Jean sends a pulse of approval. As the rings change, the next set of ones are literally dancing in and out of one another - growing, shrinking, shifting rapidly. Diana seems amused. A 'danger' room. It's not the arena, but she is aware of its adaptive properties. She strides through the hallway, wearing her more comfortable leather armor. No need for sword and shield here. She arrives in the control room where Jean is 'holding court.' It is another arena, where computers watch instead of people, where machines challenge instead of gladiators. It is interesting. Dancing implies a repetitive pattern, a sequence of moves which one must join in, that means there must be a ring without a partner at the start of the dance, which must be the first ring she needs to pass through. Even though it will slow her time, she needs to watch the whole sequence through so she can join at the right moment to be at the correct place in the pattern. As Diana comes in, Jean dips her head, "Welcome to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters." She offers cheerfully. "And thank you for putting the time aside to help observe." Proxima takes the time to do it right, even as the rings rotated and randomized. Now things are getting tricky as the rings are reversing back and forth, shifting in tone and chimes and colors. This is getting tough, the changes in tones and colors seem random, which means she is drawing near the end of the sequence and it is trying to confuse her to make her lose track of which ones she has passed through before. There still must be some clue as to which one is next. There is only one possibility she can see as to that clue...it has to be the one most difficult to reach. The others are trying to get in the way and to obscure the path...only her lightning reflexes and her near-total telekinetic control over her flight make it possible...and even so she is not certain of her deduction. Diana chuckles. "I had heard of those referred to as 'mutants.' Although I do take issue with their claims as being a step up in evolution. But I would like to meet more of those referred to as 'homo sapiens superior.'" She looks to Linda. "How is she doing?" Jean Grey dips her head to Diana, "Rather well. This is evaluating how well she can adapt and react. It's not only about how she uses her powers, but how she anticipates and responds." Jean watches to Linda, and then sends her a telepathic message >You're not just limited to maneuvering -through- them. You are allowed to change the battlefield.> Linda frowns slightly, she was told not to touch the rings, and assumed that included telekinesis. However, perhaps she can use something ELSE to touch the rings without breaking the rules...she can not see any other way to alter the battlefield without touching the rings. The question is, what kinds of alteration are allowed? Well, there must be some way the rings are kept suspended...be it a wire or a magnetic field or a standing sonic wave or a dimensional interface. If she can locate that for the various rings that are in the way, she might be able to move them out of the way. She gets the impression using pieces of the wall to destroy the rings she already passed through would not be an acceptable answer. Diana nods, standing in front of the glass panel overlooking the danger room. "Not everyone can be as fortunate as the Amazons on Themiscyra. But she is doing well, and I do applaud her resolve." Gabby can see the statuesque Amazon in formal leather armor, her arms crossed, her face relaxed and at ease. Jean Grey is up in the observation deck with Diana, watching Proxima fly through a series of rapidly altering rings. Jean breaks into a grin as Proxima starts adapting then Diana starts to dial up the difficulty of the routine as the room does, in fact, go dark. For the individuals in the observation deck it's still 'visible', but for Proxima she would have to rely on her enhanced senses to guide her. On sound, vibrations.. And the room is now 'flinging' things at her in the form of small obstacles launching at her. "Yaa~awwwww... awwwn...." Gabby comes into the observation room looking bleary eyed and tired, shuffling sleepily inside to pause and blink at the pair already here. With eyes half shut she takes a deep breath, stares, and dips her head to the side earning a crack of her neck. "... Did I miss something cool again?" The only way that Proxima's senses are enhances is their speed...they work with her advanced reflexes and so they are a hundred times faster. This also means the adjust to changes in lighting and such faster. It is not much of an advantage in most cases. Proxima has to play insect...insects do not hear things the way that humans do, they hear pulses she has to move herself quickly enough to get different dopplar shifts off the rings to judge their relative distance...while at the same time detecting the sound blockage caused by the objects coming towards her. She can, unfortunately, only use her telekinesis on things she can see...or touch, so she will have to actually touch some of the objects that are not rings and throw them at the others to deflect them before they reach her. Diana turned at the familiar voice, and smiled upon seeing the girl. "Gabrielle...!" she says with a wry smile. "How good to see you again." She looks back to Linda, then to Gabby. "Come. Watch the display." She is focused on Linda, but can't help feeling a soft spot in her heart for Gabby, the child warrior. Jean Grey laughs, "Nice to see you get around Gabriella. Do you mind my asking how you met Diana?" Jean offers, keeping track of where Linda is telepathically. Jean dips her head and sends a telepathic message to Linda Now, the danger room is adapting as it's sending larger objects, faster at Linda.. And trying to catch her in some of those more potent force fields it can generate. Gabby smiles broadly at Diana when she turns. Ah ha! She had been missing something cool! Her Badger Sense was working great! Or just waking up from a nap did it too. She strides in with a laugh and gives Diana a quick hug around the waist. "Good to see you again! Wow I didn't know you'd be here!" The enthusiasm she feels when greeting the amazon becomes distracted by the sight of Linda, and Jean's own question. "Oh, we met in the park once when I was out with Jonathan." The trick with force fields is that they have a frequency, it varies but all fields have one, All Linda has to do is match that frequency with her own field and she passes through like two soap bubbles merging to form a larger one...leaving the larger objects to smash into the field behind her. This is slowing her down as it is making it hard to locate the next ring... Diana nods, one hand descending to ruffle Gabby's hair. "I had wondered when I might see you again." She reaches down, then lifts Gabby easily to rest her on Diana's shoulder, one arm around Gabby's legs to hold her there easily and comfortably. "Watch how she moves, Gabby. It is quite graceful, don't you think?" Jean Grey turns her full attention back over to Proxima as she presumes that the other woman is hitting her limits when it comes to multitasking effectively. Gabby gives a bit of a giggle as she's pulled up to Diana's shoulder to perch there, quite happy to do so. It does give her a far better view of Proxima down in the danger room as well. "Mmyeah, I've seen her do a lot of stuff. She's good, but she really does seem like she's not overly confident in what she can do. Like she's testing herself all the time. Which isn't bad I guess," she's quick to add as she goes quiet a moment to watch some more of the obstacles thrown at her be avoided. "We got to fight together once when we were rescuing our kidnapped friend, it was pretty cool. We got him out okay too." Linda responds after brief consideration, "It seems better to test my limits in relative safely, to find out what I can and can not do." The sense part of this test is the difficult one...so far anyway. Diana nods approvingly. "You were successful in your quest, which is always something to celebrate. I see you are doing quite well." She looks back to the panel. "Perhaps you might tell her I have arrived and would like to renew my friendship with her...?" Jean Grey nods, "Of course." She takes a moment and then speaks through the intercom, "Proxima, Diana has arrived and she's saying she'd like to catch up with you. SO if you want you can take a break for now and come and talk with us and we can continue later?" Gabby nods emphatically. "Yeah, I'm doing great! Except Logan won't let me wear my new dress without leggings. Something about it being too short, and having to murder anyone who looks at me while wearing it." Her eyes roll up with a light shake of her head even if she finds it amusing herself. Linda says, "Wonder Woman? Been a long time, I guess we can pause and get back to testing later." Linda knows other people named Diana, but the Princess seems to be the most logical one. Actually, there is one thing she wants to try first. She starts focusing her telekinesis into the air that is touching her, adding energy to it. If she is right that will make it glow without causing TOO much heat... Jean Grey lets out an amused sigh to Gabby, "Then tell him if he really needs to he can model it for you so you can get an idea of it, because I'm relatively sure that if he asks Emma she's not going to have any issues with it." Jean switches down to watch at Linda, watching her intent on accelerating the air molecules around her. "Nice trick." The redhead muses. Gabby looks over to Jean with amusement. "Of course Emma wasn't upset by it. She thought it was a good way to distract from my scarred face by showing off my legs. Which is why I'm probably too young to wear it still," she admits. Anything Emma approved of and gave advice on 'improving' was probably more than she wanted to show off. "It was still funny watching Logan's face turn purple." Shifting her attention back to the window she watches Linda do her new trick curiously Linda concentrates, the problem is the air is not in contact with her skin very long...the first attempt creates a thunderclap as all the air in contact is forced away from Linda's body. Potentially useful, but not what she was aiming for... Jean Grey lets out a sigh, and goes to put her hand down over Gabriella's eyes. "Sorry." Jean offers just a little cheekily. "Proxima, why don't you go ahead and call it at that and grab a pair of sweats on your way out to join us.." Gabby twists her expression into a little confused frown when Jean covers her eyes. "Sorry for what? Why are you covering my eyes?" There's a quiet moment of thought as she ponders over this a moment or two. "... You do realize I had nine sisters, right? We didn't really have a lot of privacy." There's a pause, before she adds quieter, "Oh, or maybe this is for HER privacy. That makes sense." Linda comments, "Need a better costume...though there could have been worse effects of the experiment." Perhaps fortunately the lights are still out as she makes her way to the exit. Diana looks on, appraising her. Yes...Kara isn't as busty, but that is not to say Linda is unattractive. More than a few of her kin would find her intriguing... Jean Grey just.. Quirks a brow at the thoughts she's picking up from Diana and shakes her head in amusement. She nods to Gabby, "Pretty much." Gabby is returned to the shoulder of Diana. Gabby has her eyes finally uncovered, and rolls them upward as well. Arms cross over her chest as she tries not to be a bit annoyed at being treated like such a child over things. "Okay so that's over," she finally states with a nod. "You know her, Diana?" Diana smiles wryly. "I know *of* her. The files of the League are extensive, and Batman investigates like the master detective he is. Nothing is considered unimportant." She looks to Jean. "She is a confirmed student here?" Linda reaches the exit, putting on whatever is there that fits her (it is certain this not the first time costume damage has taken place, unstable molecule costumes are fiendishly expensive). Mostly it seems to be sweats. Well at least they can adapt to a variety of sizes. She comes up to the control booth and says, "Hey Gabby. Hello Diana, I was trying to remember how long it has been. At least three years..." Linda has occasional problems with her memory since the separation from Matrix...mostly of older things, what happened after the separation is usually pretty clear. When Linda comes out to join them in a set of sweats that say 'Xavier's' on them Jean crosses her arms, "Excellent job. I might suggest in the future if you're going for attempted pyrokinetic manipulations you try and find a location that's a bit further away from yourself or a more resistant material to experiment on." Jean's amused. "And she's here for some training, though I wouldn't say she's enlisted as a full time student." Jean offers and glances to Gabby. Gabby ohs softly at the explanation given. "... Is Batman really a bat? I always wondered. I mean there's some mutants that are different animal types and all so is he?" With a name like Batman she had to wonder. "That's cool though. It's always good to have files on people. Makes learning about them a lot easier." Diana smiles. "Some might think so. He cultivates his aura of mystery to intimate the criminal element. 'A cowardly, superstitious lot,' he called them. He is highly intuitive, a truly peerless mind. He could give your Logan lessons in intimidation." Linda responds, "I worked with Batman not long ago, though I know his former apprentice, Nightwing, from my time with the Titans reserve and also worked with him on a recent kidnapping case. Actually, I thought I saw the girl who was kidnapped here the other day. Jenny Elgin..." She pauses, realizing that the answer was uninformative, "As far as I can tell, Batman is human. He was not one of the Earthborn..." Jean Grey offers, "I think he's sort of like Moon Knight, just a bit less grumpy and self absorbed." That might be a scary thing to refer to someone other than the Dark Knight as, accurate or not as it might be. Diana nods sagely. "He is human. The upper echelons of human, but still human. And yet he can hold his own with enemies far more powerful. It is a testament to his intelligence and drive." Gabby hms thoughtfully. Then she yawns again, and rubs at her eyes with a sigh. "I should go get some more rest. Spiderman and I were up late the other night dealing with some gangs and stuff. We did good but I'm tired." Flashing a smile she offers, "It was good seeing you again, Diana! I'll let you all catch up." Confusing adult stuff, boooring. Linda gives Gabby a hug and sighs as the youngster leaves. She says to the others, "I wish I could see my daughter again. Sometimes, when I see a young woman like Gabby, I wonder what Ariella would be like at that age...but I doubt I will ever find out." Jean Grey gives a quick hug to the departing Gabriella as well, and then she turns to Diana, "So, what sorts of things might you suggest over to...Linda to improving her training? And have you decided what you want to do with your powers, Linda? When you came to us for training, you were still deciding." Diana rests a gentle hand on Linda's shoulder. "If your connection to your daughter is anything like my mother's connection to me, it is my belief that you will eventually find each other again. Besides...if she resides in your heart, she is with you." She smiles thoughtfully. "I know this to be true, from my own experience." Linda smiles at Diana, "She does reside in my heart...but where in all of space and time she may be found I have no clue, only that is is not anywhere on Earth in this Era." She has checked every way she can. Linda says, "I have been helping people. Mostly on the weekends when I run to town to keep up my commitments as a artist. There are things that need to be done that I can do others can not. I can no longer shirk my responsibilities to use my powers. I seem to be doing fairly well at getting back into the swing of using them." Jean Grey nods to Linda, "Then that's a good thing. And remember, your destiny is your own." Jean offers with an approving smile. "And I also think that if you're wanting to get out there back into the world, that Diana is probably the one to help guide you over in that, if you feel that's your purpose." Diana smiles. "And it you wish to hone your combat skills in a true arena, Themiscyra Island would welcome you eagerly with open arms." As well as a few of her sisters. "We can provide a challenge worthy of your power." She smirks. Linda admits, "Perhaps it would be easier to train my skills properly with someone more nearly my level of power." Not that most Amazons are as good physically as Linda, but there are a few who could be...and most of the Amazons are well trained, better than she is by a long shot. She never had any real training...it is unfortunately easy to get by on powers when you are as potent as Linda...but hard to train properly if you rely on powers excessively. Jean Grey nods, "We can help you learn your powers, but Diana would be much better for learning how to fight. None of us are quite over on your level when it comes to that style of abilities." She offers to Linda and gives a nod to the rest of Diana's words. Diana smiles to Jean. "Perhaps you should send a few emissaries to Themiscyra. Female emissaries, of course. Apart from a very few exceptions, no males have set foot on the island." She tilts her head. "Maybe you could be one of them..." Linda says to Diana, "I think it may be worth an attempt. I hope more than just you are fluent in English, I fear I no longer have the gift of tongues I had when I was an Angel. English is all I speak." Jean Grey groans to Diana, "Believe me, you don't want that. if any of us go there, it means that you're going to have Remy and Robert somehow ending up there, and I don't want to imagine what happens with the two of them there for any length of time." Diana chuckled. "You misunderstand. It is physically impossible for males to set foot on the island now. A powerful ward was set in place."